WHOKILLEDXIX - Anxiety (Single) Review

 by Rhett Rhodes

    Most of the time as an artist or band grows and becomes successful or somewhat successful it's always best to do new things and spice it up a little bit. One in particular that comes in mind and was extremely and unexpectedly successful was Machine Gun Kelly's switch over to full-on pop punk 24/7. Sure, it wore out its welcome after about a year and a half after he started doing that but what a wealthy and Megan Fox bagging success. But, if you finally have the correct resources and an advantage of professional studios + gear doesn't mean you should always go that specific route for new material, especially when you have a fanbase that likes your music for one specific genre.

    WHOKILLEDXIX are a duo consisting of producer/rapper/singer Karm The Tool and rapper/singer Yung Skayda who in 2020 grew a quick cult following after Tik Tok virality of their song Kismet. Since then, they've released an arsenal of catchy upbeat pop/rap tracks and a few EP's that have met good criticism and reviews. Many times in the past, even before blowing up, WHOKILLEDXIX experimented with a punk/metal sound, using programs like FL Slayer or samples to achieve said punk/metal vibe. This time around, it seems they either are actually playing the instruments here on their new single Anxiety, or have hired musicians to play the instruments for them. If it's not the latter, then of course I have to say they recorded and played the instruments very well and were mixed almost as decently meshed as some classic late 90's pop-punk. 

    Though I didn't mind the instrumentation on this song, I particularly had a hard time with the lyrics and vocal work. First, the lyrics are desperately angsty and mostly anyone over the age of 20 would have a hard time relating to what they are trying to say; or find it cringeworthy sadly to say. Early into the song, Karm sings 'I give into pressure, take it out on a drywall', and although I have yet to establish whether or not he was trying to make a meme, I can say it's hard to take him seriously. 'Self destruction engage, my only way out of this defective asylum' sounds very much like something I would've reblogged on Tumblr in 2015 when $uicideboy$ were starting to rise in popularity. When making a track like this, I almost feel like the overly-produced vocals just don't work. I wanted to focus on guitar and bass alignment but I was far too distracted by the yelling auto-tuned hyperpop stutters that occur off and on and the very many different vocal styles used by the both of them. Simply: there's too much going on vocally for my ears to care.

4.1/10